# Is it possible to create a fission or fussion type reaction with any type of element? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 31, 2003, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-create-a-fission-or-fussion-type-reaction-with-any-type-of-element/151790 "2003-01-31T03:08:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hermann\_Cheruscan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b782af/32.png) [@Hermann\_Cheruscan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermann_Cheruscan)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-create-a-fission-or-fussion-type-reaction-with-any-type-of-element/151790/1 "2003-01-31T03:08:10Z")
Fission type nuclear bombs are created using uranium or plutonium. Fussion type bombs are created using hydrogen. Is it possible to create these type of bombs using any of the elements? ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-create-a-fission-or-fussion-type-reaction-with-any-type-of-element/151790/2 "2003-01-31T03:19:44Z")
As far as I know, nothing heavier than iron will fuse - that’s what’s inside the core of a collapsing star. ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-create-a-fission-or-fussion-type-reaction-with-any-type-of-element/151790/3 "2003-01-31T03:23:02Z")
Stuff heavier than iron will fuse, **Speaker for the Dead** , but above that it takes more energy to fuse the atoms than will be released. ---
**Author:** ![Lodrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@Lodrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lodrain)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-create-a-fission-or-fussion-type-reaction-with-any-type-of-element/151790/4 "2003-01-31T03:24:47Z")
I was writing my post when **erislover** and **Speaker** replied, but I’ll go ahead anyways. Yes, theoretically, it could happen–for example, in old, hot stars close to nova, signifigant quantities of iron are made by nuclear fusion from oxygen, which is fused from… lithium? **Bad Astronomner** , ya know anything 'bout the death of stars? Point is, you can fuse any element you want, as long as you’re willing to figure out how to get it hot enough and contained. But it’d be extremely difficult and you’d probably be unable to make a nuclear fission chain reaction with anything before uranium on the table. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-create-a-fission-or-fussion-type-reaction-with-any-type-of-element/151790/5 "2003-01-31T06:32:01Z")
You can fission anything but H-1 with a “bullet” of appropriate size and force for the target atom. There’s evidence for the production of californium, presumably by fusion, in supernovae – that being way above iron and even well above uranium on the periodic table. The basic point is that U and Pu fission are quite within our capabilities, and H fusion barely is; He fusion requires pressures and temperatures we cannot begin to achieve, and fissioning most elements requires more energy input than we could ever harness. (Does thorium undergo fission or can it be irradiated “simply” to something that does?) ---
**Author:** ![Eternal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@Eternal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eternal)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-create-a-fission-or-fussion-type-reaction-with-any-type-of-element/151790/6 "2003-01-31T07:31:18Z")
If I remember correctly, Young Einstein created a similar reaction by splitting a beer molecule. ---
**Author:** ![flex727](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/258eb7/32.png) [@flex727](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flex727)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-create-a-fission-or-fussion-type-reaction-with-any-type-of-element/151790/7 "2003-01-31T12:38:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by erislover \* > \*\*Stuff heavier than iron will fuse, **Speaker for the Dead** , but above that it takes more energy to fuse the atoms than will be released. \*\* Yup. If this weren’t true, there would _be_ no elements heavier than iron. They all came from a fusion reaction inside a star, likely during a nova or supernova event. Iron is the low energy point of the elemental table for nuclei. Below iron, from a theoretical standpoint, fusion releases energy and fission requires energy input. Above iron the opposite is true. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-create-a-fission-or-fussion-type-reaction-with-any-type-of-element/151790/8 "2003-01-31T12:50:26Z")
Check out the first graph on this page of [Nuclear Masses and Binding Energy](http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~ppzrfp/nuclear_physics/Binding.html). It shows (very roughly) how much energy is in atoms of different sizes (atomic numbers). Hydrogen is at 1, Iron is at 56 (at the top), and Uranium is at 238. If you want more energy, you have to go uphill. In theory, you could get more energy fusing anything lighter than Iron, or fissioning anything heavier than Iron, but as you can see, Hydrogen and Uranium are the best choices if you want a lot of energy.